Advice Needed

[Willy Weasel]

I remain convinced house prices will drop, but for family reasons need to move to a bigger property. I have scoured the local market and have found a property I like. It is on the market for £290,000 and having checked www.houseprices.co.uk I have discovered it was sold for £240,000 in November 2002. It has been on the market for a long time and I am told by the agent that a sale has been agreed twice but both have fallen through. The Vendor no longer lives in the property. It has been reduced from £300,000. I am considering making an offer of £275,000. Do you think I will have done as much as I can to protect against forthcoming HPC?

[Bucephalus]

I remain convinced house prices will drop, but for family reasons need to move to a bigger property. I have scoured the local market and have found a property I like. It is on the market for £290,000 and having checked www.houseprices.co.uk I have discovered it was sold for £240,000 in November 2002. It has been on the market for a long time and I am told by the agent that a sale has been agreed twice but both have fallen through. The Vendor no longer lives in the property. It has been reduced from £300,000. I am considering making an offer of £275,000. Do you think I will have done as much as I can to protect against forthcoming HPC?

Can you not just rent a bigger property?

[Della]

I assume by "family reasons" you mean there's a baby on the way.

Couldn't you just get a bunk bed? It'd work out cheaper in the end and you'd teach the kids the value of being sensible with money.

http://www.thekidswindow.co.uk/furniture/bunk-beds.htm

Edited September 4, 2006 by Della

[OzzMosiz]

I remain convinced house prices will drop, but for family reasons need to move to a bigger property. I have scoured the local market and have found a property I like. It is on the market for £290,000 and having checked www.houseprices.co.uk I have discovered it was sold for £240,000 in November 2002. It has been on the market for a long time and I am told by the agent that a sale has been agreed twice but both have fallen through. The Vendor no longer lives in the property. It has been reduced from £300,000. I am considering making an offer of £275,000. Do you think I will have done as much as I can to protect against forthcoming HPC?

offer £249 - below 3% stamp duty threshold!. You never know!!!

[Killer Bunny]

It has been reduced from £300,000.

So?

I am considering making an offer of £275,000. Do you think I will have done as much as I can to protect against forthcoming HPC?

This a joke right?

[enworb]

I remain convinced house prices will drop, but for family reasons need to move to a bigger property. I have scoured the local market and have found a property I like. It is on the market for £290,000 and having checked www.houseprices.co.uk I have discovered it was sold for £240,000 in November 2002. It has been on the market for a long time and I am told by the agent that a sale has been agreed twice but both have fallen through. The Vendor no longer lives in the property. It has been reduced from £300,000. I am considering making an offer of £275,000. Do you think I will have done as much as I can to protect against forthcoming HPC?

If it ticks all the boxes then you should go for it. The fact that it has been on the matket for a long time and that the vendors have let down twice already works in your favour.

Offer them £260,000 and take it from there. It sounds as though you don't any competition. Only after they refuse (if they do) offer them £270,000.

I'm quite bullish about property in general but in these circumstances its a buyers market. It all depends on your view of the apparent hpc and how ideal the house is.

Best of luck anyway

[OzzMosiz]

Why offer 260K when offering 249999 would save the OP more money due to the stamp duty being 3% over 250K.

OP - be cheeky and offer low.

[Mags]

Why offer 260K when offering 249999 would save the OP more money due to the stamp duty being 3% over 250K.

OP - be cheeky and offer low.

Exactly! Why on earth go any higher? If I had managed to really convince myself that now is a good time to buy I would start at £240,000 and go up as far as the threshold and not a penny more. If they can't see what a great offer that is under the circumstances just walk away.

[Willy Weasel]

Thanks everyone for your comments. I suppose I felt that the Vendor wouldn't consider selling it for the same price they bought it for 4 years ago. I'm viewing it this afternoon, so I'll see how the land lies with the agent

So?

This a joke right?

No. What do you think I should offer?

[MEtallic]

Personally, I'd offer well below the £250k threshold and bargain up to £249,999. Having been a seller myself once, it's not that pleasant to be sitting on a house that's not selling and seeing sales fall through. You're offering them more than they paid for it. Seems fair to me. Personally, I would have accepted an even lower price than that what I got for mine, had the buyer haggled more.

Look at it from another way...if you can afford to pay £290k for a house that will only be worth £200k in 3 years time, then give them the asking price.

[Willy Weasel]

Personally, I'd offer well below the £250k threshold and bargain up to £249,999. Having been a seller myself once, it's not that pleasant to be sitting on a house that's not selling and seeing sales fall through. You're offering them more than they paid for it. Seems fair to me. Personally, I would have accepted an even lower price than that what I got for mine, had the buyer haggled more.

Look at it from another way...if you can afford to pay £290k for a house that will only be worth £200k in 3 years time, then give them the asking price.

Thanks. The other thing that is affecting my thinking is that almost every other house of the same type (barn conversion) and size in this area is on the market at around the £400,000 mark so this one looks quite cheap by comparison to start with.

[OzzMosiz]

Thanks everyone for your comments. I suppose I felt that the Vendor wouldn't consider selling it for the same price they bought it for 4 years ago. I'm viewing it this afternoon, so I'll see how the land lies with the agent

No. What do you think I should offer?

My last house I paid 168K for it. I sold it 3 years later for £175K - serves me right for buying a new build!

Go for it, and walk if you think you can find another property thats suitable for cheaper.

[Mags]

Thanks. The other thing that is affecting my thinking is that almost every other house of the same type (barn conversion) and size in this area is on the market at around the £400,000 mark so this one looks quite cheap by comparison to start with.

Then there's a reason.

Remember, no one ever has to buy. People often have to sell.

[crashmonitor]

Before I decided to stay out of the market I negogiated reductions on three properties successfully at about 20% discount,I bottled out because of my belief there are more falls to come.They were 295k down to 240K ,285k down to 230k and 135k down to 111k.Definitely offer under 250k and aim for 80% of asking price.

The 200 to 300k market is in a dire state because most sellers are relying on chains.Assuming like me you have nothing to sell,you have the whip hand.

[Della]

To imaging how much money £250,000 imaging building a house literaly out of money.

If you built a house out of penny coins:

Size of penny coin 1.65mm x 20.3mm

Supposing you wanted to build a 1500 sq ft house with 9 rooms that's 139 sq m Our house is notionally square and has doors and windows made out of money.

It takes 1818 coins to make a pile 3 meters high

One wall is 11.7 m long. It takes 1055963 coins to make a wall.

We need 8 walls to make the external walls and split the internal space into 9 rooms, that takes 8447703 coins in total.

Total cost of materials for making it out of 1p coins £84,477 (2p coins £107,634)

There are lots of cheaper building materials than physical money

EDIT:

For example to make a house out of "China black pearl" granite the same as they use for worktops would cost £56,591, it'd probably be thick enough for a proper wall.

http://ukaffordablegranite.com/prices/index.htm

Edited September 4, 2006 by Della

[Broken Fan]

To imaging how much money £250,000 imaging building a house literaly out of money.

If you built a house out of penny coins:

Size of penny coin 1.65mm x 20.3mm

Supposing you wanted to build a 1500 sq ft house with 9 rooms that's 139 sq m Our house is notionally square and has doors and windows made out of money.

It takes 1818 coins to make a pile 3 meters high

One wall is 11.7 m long. It takes 1055963 coins to make a wall.

We need 8 walls to make the external walls and split the internal space into 9 rooms, that takes 8447703 coins in total.

Total cost of materials for making it out of 1p coins £84,477 (2p coins £107,634)

There are lots of cheaper building materials than physical money

The external walls should be doubled with a 4 inch cavity, and how are you going to make the roof.

[Mildura]

Why offer 260K when offering 249999 would save the OP more money due to the stamp duty being 3% over 250K.

OP - be cheeky and offer low.

not meaning to be pedantic but £250,000 is calculated at 3% stamp duty. £250,001 is where the 4% category starts.

[OzzMosiz]

not meaning to be pedantic but £250,000 is calculated at 3% stamp duty. £250,001 is where the 4% category starts.

No problem! I couldn't even afford a 250K house, so I wouldn't know what the percentage was!!

[Della]

The external walls should be doubled with a 4 inch cavity, and how are you going to make the roof.

OK I'll add a 2 layer thick roof of 1p coins is the roof, and superglue them together. £6746 for the coins and maybe a couple of hundred quid for the superglue.

£126715 for the walls if they have a double layer for a cavity on the exterior walls.

Still costs less than £250,000.

EDIT:

The walls are stacked coins, if you were to stand them on end and glue a couple of layers together construction cost would be a lot lower.

Edited September 4, 2006 by Della

[crashmonitor]

not meaning to be pedantic but £250,000 is calculated at 3% stamp duty. £250,001 is where the 4% category starts.

250k is 1%,250001 is 3%

Edited September 4, 2006 by crashmonitor

[OzzMosiz]

250k is 1%,250001 is 3%

So I was right?

[Once in a lifetime]

I remain convinced house prices will drop, but for family reasons need to move to a bigger property. I have scoured the local market and have found a property I like. It is on the market for £290,000 and having checked www.houseprices.co.uk I have discovered it was sold for £240,000 in November 2002. It has been on the market for a long time and I am told by the agent that a sale has been agreed twice but both have fallen through. The Vendor no longer lives in the property. It has been reduced from £300,000. I am considering making an offer of £275,000. Do you think I will have done as much as I can to protect against forthcoming HPC?

[Willy Weasel]

I think the consensus is go in at £240,000 (what the Vendor paid for the property 4 years ago) with a view to buying it for 249,950.

I'll let you know how I get on

[Della]

I think the consensus is go in at £240,000 (what the Vendor paid for the property 4 years ago) with a view to buying it for 249,950.

I'll let you know how I get on

A stack of £240,000 worth of 1 pence coins would be 24.4 miles high, 7.4 times the height of Mt Everest, 39% of the way to space. If you buy this house just think of it as your personal money mountain that you'll be climbing for the rest of your life.

Enjoy!

[Guest AuntJess]

So I was right?

http://www.taxcentral.co.uk/taxcentral/hom...tor/default.asp

Stamp duty for 250K = £2500

Stamp duty for 251K = £7530

£5030 extra for one thousand pound extra on the house...scandalous! :angry:

Gorgon Brown is raking it in!